I had a productive conversation with Rick Hines re importance of Chain of Command within the Police and Fire Departments, both "para military" organizations. I grew up in the relatively flat organizational structure of P&G, and I've never worked within a rigorous COC organization. Rick's explanation of how COC works was very helpful perspective I wouldn't have otherwise known.
For my part, I committed to Rick to respect COC among his organzation, and I'll bring anything I hear to him (or Dennis on Safety) first.
This conversation came after an email directive (haven't personally seen) that stated that Employees talking with Council or the Media faced discipline if they didn't obey Chain of Command. While I'm very supportive of working issues through COC (this keeps small stuff off of Council's to-do list), there are some issues that I fear won't be brought to light for fear of penalty. For instance, if the issue is with the 1 up it's an uncomfortable conversation. If it's with 1 and 2 up it's very dangerous. And if it's 1 & 2 up, Dan's close relationship with Rick (a great thing) means 3 bosses could be on the opposite side. A real world example: recent headlines in Bell, California where the Chief, Administrator and the Mayor each quietly made 6 digit salaries. Not an issue in Mariemont, for sure, but it illustrates the conundrum a whistle blower faces: how to work this issue through COC?
I believe there needs to be a safe outlet for issues that can't be brought up via COC. Until we have a rock solid Ombudsman process, we risk not hearing about real issues that may affect our Village. I don't have the clout or authority to request this change, but I believe strongly in transparency and an ombudsman person or panel can bring issues to light absolving the the complaint's originator.
Cortney
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I would encourage you to look into the "Parody" that was voted on by the citizens severl years ago. this vote was passed and required that pay grades of police and fire by equal. There was an attempt to chance this when Hines made Feldmann a Capt right after he became the Chief years ago and it was stoped when the former Chief made council aware of the "Parody".
ReplyDeleteChain of Command is directly related to span of control i.e. a supervisor should not be ask to supervise more than a given number of employees. 5:1 i beleive is industry standard you may want to check into NIMS. That being said when would the Police Chief,Captian,LT and Sergant ( 40% of the PD staff) be on duty at the same time and the chain of command be a issue. Even if 2 of them were on duty at most there would only be 1 officer for the 2 of them to supervise at best. I look forword to watching the meeting to see how Hines sold this plan.
No one seems to know when the Asst. Fire Chief works and assumeing that the Fire Marshal cant work 24/7/365 I would think that addtional supervisers would be warranted for the FD ? What is the financial or operational advantage to removing the Captains from the books ?
As governments over the last 10 years seek to flatten their management structure to parallel private industry to save money, it's ironic that the Mariemont government is seeking to add more layers of management at more cost.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of expenses, is is true that the police department just hired a new police officer? Isn't this increasing our expenses that the Village council is trying so hard to control? And speaking of a waste of money, what rational person honestly believes that the new assistant fire chief can hold down 2 fulltime jobs. Out of all the possible candidates for assistant chief, is our government telling us that this guy is the best possible candidate that we could find? I think that we are all fooling ourselves at thinking that this will work out on a permanent basis.
I thought our government was concerned about saving money. You've laid off employees, increased trash fees, and tried to raise taxes. If you seek a tax increase--don't expect my support or vote.
At this rate it should only take another 4 to 6 years for the majority of the population to realize that this is all part of the Mayors personal agenda like a handfull tried to make clear a few years ago. By then however Hines will be the Public Safety Czar making 250,000 / year and Fire Dept will be reduced to photos in the Preservation Foundation.
ReplyDeleteGood luck Cortney!
.......I believe there needs to be a safe outlet for issues that can't be brought up via COC. Until we have a rock solid Ombudsman process, we risk not hearing about real issues that may affect our Village. I don't have the clout or authority to request this change, but I believe strongly in transparency and an ombudsman person or panel can bring issues to light absolving the the complaint's originator.
ReplyDeleteThis will only happen when exectutive powers are removed from the Mayor and given back to the Governing body as they should be.